Doubt of the Moon
by Sylvia Snape
Summary: Remus is bitten by a werewolf while he is at Camp Green Lake. Will anybody believe him? preHBP, COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Spoilers:** PoA (not acounting HBP)

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended. The name "Camp Green Lake" is property of the book Holes, by Luis Sachar.

**Author's Notes:** This is an extremely short fic (only three chapters.) I started writting this pre HBP, so it will remain that way. In this story, it is not Fenrir Greyback who bites Remus, since I did not know that, but an (now AU)possibility. Also, Remus's mother is a witch and his father is a muggle, not the other way around (as it should be.) Since it was AU anyway, I saw no point to change that. By the way, I have no idea which exact year Remus was 6, and I certainly don't know if that July had two full moons, but that's how it fit my story. Enjoy!

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Little Remus smiled. His parents had finally agreed to send him away for the summer and, although reluctantly, they let the 6-year old spend July in a reputable summer camp. Today was the 1st day of July and his little group had just arrived at the camp site. 

The excitable little kids ran out of the bus to meet the camp counselor. "Hi, kids!" They let out a loud "hi" and after they had quieted, the young woman spoke again. "Welcome to Camp Green Lake! My name is Rachel. I'm sure you're all going to have lots of fun here. First I want you to all get settled and then we'll meet each other formally by the campfire. How's that sound?" Some kids shouted a reply, but most seemed happy.

"Alright," she said this very cheerfully, dragging it out into two words, but not annoyingly, in a very cute way that the kids all giggled appreciatively at. "I'm glad you're such a cooperative group. Listen carefully; I'm going to assign you to your cabins.

"If your last name begins with 'a,' 'b,' 'c' or 'd,' I want you to come up here." Four boys came up to her and she smiled kindly. "Go with Andy," she pointed out a likewise young man who had approached the group quietly while she talked, "he will be your councilor while you stay here. If you have any questions, make sure to ask him." That group trotted off.

The woman kept going through the list and Remus listened carefully the whole time, unlike most of the other kids. After three other groups had left, only Rachel, two boys and two girls remained. "The rest of you will be staying with me. Take your backpacks and you will be staying in cabin 'E.' I'll be in the councilor's cabin right next to it, so if you have any problems you can always find me. Follow me."

Remus spent the rest of the day talking to his cabin mates John, Meg and Mandy and getting used to the camp. When the sun set, all twenty kids met again around the campfire, full from just eating their dinner. (Remus discovered there were 2 Johns, 3 Amandas and 4 Roberts sharing the camp with him.) The meeting went by uneventfully, though Remus enjoyed the ghost stories they heard very much.

Now it was past the campers' lights out and Remus was possibly the only child who was still awake. He wanted to fall asleep, but however much he tossed and turned, he could not. He wandered out of the cabin, carefully opening and closing the door so that it would not creak. Remus fully planned to just wander around a bit or go to the councilor's cabin before returning to his own. But as he passed the woods, something seemed to draw him in. Giving in to temptation, he went in under light of the full moon.

Remus still didn't know what had happened that night. He had woken up the following morning safely snuggled up in his bed with no recollection of the events in the woods. He was perfectly fine except for a wound on his left thigh that was quickly healing. He supposed he had just tripped in the woods and after cleaning it rather messily by himself, he thought no more of it. But how did he get out of the forest and into his bed? Probably one of the camp councilors had found him and took pity on him. Remus was not in any trouble and nobody seemed to suspect him of doing anything wrong, so he quickly forgot about the incident, learning how to have fun and play with other kids his age in the outdoors.

All was fine until the last day of camp. The morning was spent with a little party with a lot of food that everyone enjoyed. The afternoon was free and kids could go around the camp, basically doing anything they wanted to. Remus had fun chatting and playing around until one of the bigger kids from Cabin A started bothering him.

Remus was sensitive about his big teeth and he did not appreciate the boy making fun of them. After having to put up with taunts until the sun set, which actually wasn't more than fifteen minutes, Remus gave in and started to cry, quietly at first than tears flowing freely. That only gave the boy another insult, so Remus quickly ran away in embarrassment. He ran as far as he could run, into the darkness and quiet of the woods.

Quietly sniffling, Remus took the chance to explore the forest. He knew that the night was a "blue moon." He knew from his father that this was a term for the second full moon in a month, and he was eager to see it. Remus knew it was rare and wanted to know if his mother had been truthful in saying that the moon was really looked blue than. He was almost positive his mother had been joking, but wanted to see it for himself.

Remus had barely calmed himself after his little ordeal when he felt a strange tingling behind his eyes. When he tried to rub them, the pain only moved as his skin tingled and hair grew. Remus quickly became terrified as his bones started to change. They became — different. They were much more thin now, but somehow stronger. Hands and feet also started changing — changing to look like paws. The pain became too much for the young boy as he collapsed on the moist ground, shaking with the sensation.

Then, as suddenly as the pain had begun, it ended. Remus tried to get up, but found himself on all fours, with drastically different eyesight tuned for night hunting. He took shaky steps before smelling a rabbit. Unable to control himself, Remus sprang on his feet and ran after his poor victim as if that was all he knew how to do.

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**Author's Notes: **How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review! 


	2. Chapter 2

**Spoilers:** PoA (not acounting HBP)

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:** Not much to say... This is the inbetween chapter of sorts, but there is an interesting referance there (Harry Potter refrence, not any other book.) Enjoy!

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Remus woke up. Where was he? He wasn't supposed to still be in the cabin. It was morning too. Exactly what had happened during the night? He hadn't turned into a… a… _werewolf_. Had he? 

He looked around and saw Rachael. "Um, hi."

She looked at him in surprise. "Oh! So you're finally awake."

"Do — do you known what happened last night?" Remus asked, hesitating.

"Yes, I know you were in the forest." Uh-oh, something told Remus he was in trouble this time. "One of the most important rules was to not go into the forest. Why didn't you follow it?"

"How am I getting home?"

"Your parents were called and should be getting here soon to pick you up. I suppose they'll figure out why you were in the forest." She sighed.

"The big boy in Cabin A was making fun of my teeth." He said softly. "I just wanted to get away from him." Remus felt tears coming to his eyes. Rachael took pity on him and held him while he cried.

"Poor boy," she murmured, stroking his hair.

She figured out that the big boy in Cabin A was Vernon Dursley, and he really was _big_. She told her boss what she found out and called the boy's parents. That was a huge disaster. The mother refused to believe that her son would do anything wrong, and the father accused poor little Remus of hassling his son. It was unbelievable, really. The whole family was the same. At least Vernon wouldn't be coming back to Camp Green Lake.

Remus fell asleep again before his parents came. The Lupins had been angry at their son, but after talking to Rachael and finding out what had happened, their anger turned to worry, especially for Casey Lupin. She was a witch and knew full well what could have happened to her son, especially with two full moons. She just hoped she was wrong.

Time passed, and Casey and Richard didn't say anything to their son. They saw that he was getting along better with the other kids and loved watching him just playing and being happy. His interest in reading was great, but they had always thought that he needed to be more involved with kids, outside of school as well as in. They realized that everyone was bullied at some point in time and since it didn't repeat, they didn't think it would be a problem.

Richard claimed that Remus was a likeable kid and had been subjected for the first time to teasing and had reacted badly. The first time he had visited the forest (they were told about that too, Rachael turned out to be the counselor who took pity on him that first day) he put down as curiosity. As the psychiatrist, he should have figured out that something was wrong; it's a pity that Casey was the first to notice anything.

Casey was a loving mother and read every night to her son to nurture his interest in books. However, as a witch, she chose to tell him magical stories as well as the traditional muggle fairy tales. She was a muggleborn, and knew the importance of understanding and being accustomed to both cultures when one was anything less than a pureblood. This was especially true for a half-blood, like Remus. She noticed that after summer camp, Remus had a different attitude toward the beasts in the stories and wanted to give them a chance. Casey knew that something serious had happened to her son, but was hesitant to confront her young child about it.

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**Author's Notes: **How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review! 


	3. Chapter 3

**Spoilers:** PoA (not acounting HBP)

**Disclaimer:** The characters and the Harry Potter enterprise belongs to JK Rowling and all of her affiliates. No trademark infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:** Last Chapter! A slight referance from HBP is in this chapter (it was the only one written after.)Enjoy!

**Marauder Megan:** None taken! It means you're actually paying attention. I will try to take your advice, and edit it a bit, but I'm going away tommorow, so I'll do it when I get back. I'm glad you like this! So I'm updating. I remember in an old review that you mentioned I used to update a lot more often. Well, at that point I just got my ff account and I already had a lot written, and it just a matter of posting it. And anyway, for a long time I didn't have internet so I couldn't really update, now could I?

**Dream Phantom:** Glad you liked and reviewed!

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Richard was startled out of his reading with a slight tugging on his leg. He looked down to see his only son, trying to get his attention. Sighing slightly, he put down his book. He wanted to say that Remus was being babied, but remembered the many books he had read, and recited in his head, "_Young children demand attention, and it is vital that it is given to them._" He lifted his son onto the couch next to him.

"Daddy, do you love me?" the little boy asked innocently.

"Of course I do." _I know that trick, and not just from being a psychiatrist. I wonder what he could have done wrong…_

"Daddy, I…"

Remus didn't seem willing to keep talking, so Richard urged him gently. "What is it, Remus?"

"I'm a… werewolf."

Richard frowned. "That's not very funny, son."

"It's true!" Remus exclaimed, agitated.

"Of course it's not; nobody turns into a werewolf by the full moon!" Richard answered, annoyed.

"But—"

"If you insist on lying, than go upstairs to your room," Richard commanded.

"But—"

"Upstairs!"

Remus stomped upstairs, and Casey walked quietly into the room. "Richard, you really have to be more careful with what you say."

"And just why is that? It's just a phase of young children, considering that he's too young to be a lycanthrope and truly believe that he's a werewolf."

"Phase of the moon more like," Casey muttered. "For me, that's not all that lycanthrope can mean."

"What?" asked Richard slowly and disbelievingly.

"There are werewolves."

"So, that means…"

"Remus was likely bitten the first time he went out. The second time he probably figured it out. It's just a stroke of luck that he was in the forest on the second full moon; he could have turned or killed a lot of kids."

"Oh sh— I didn't know that. I'm going to have to apologize to him…"

"I'll go and talk to him, to make sure." She put her head in her hands; then suddenly looked up. "When's the next full moon?"

Richard walked over to the calendar, and quickly paled. He turned slowly to his wife, and in a dead whisper, said, "Today."

Casey jumped up. "I really have to talk to him!" She ran up the stairs, stopped at her son's closed door, and knocked softly. From inside, there was a muffled, "Go away!"

"Remus, I have to talk to you." After getting no response, she said, "I believe you." After still not getting any response, Casey pulled out her wand, and said, "Alohamora!" The door swung open, and she entered her son's room.

"Hey!" Remus protested from his bed.

"It's magic!" She moved to sit by her son. "I have a few important questions for you. Can you answer them?" Remus nodded, so she continued, "The first night you went into the forest, was there a full moon?"

"Yes," Remus answered without hesitation.

"That night, did you get injured in any way?" Remus hesitated, but showed his mother the wound he had gotten, and she inspected it carefully. "Looks like a bite… Have you felt tired lately?"

"Yea! I wondered why…"

"Well sweetheart, today's a full moon…"

"So you believe me?"

"Of course I do! But you can't blame Daddy for not believing you, he doesn't know about werewolves."

"Does he know now?" Casey nodded, so Remus said, "Good."

That night, Remus was locked in a cage in the basement that his mother had conjured, for the first conscious transformation of the many that he would soon make. Casey and Richard watched their son's second transformation at a distance, so they couldn't be seen. After watching the angry wolf for a short time, they left to get some sleep. Richard decided that he would really have to apologize to his son the next morning.

Father and son reconciled, and learned to talk more, which eventually led to better understanding of each other. Casey taught them both about werewolves, as well as the basics of magic. After the summer ended, Remus went back to school and excelled, despite a regular pattern of absences. They remained happy, especially when Remus got into Hogwarts, despite a furry little problem.

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**Author's Notes: **How did you like it? Could you read my other stories as well? It would be appreciated. I'll take any reviews I can get. My policy on reviewing: it's better to get a flame than nothing at all. You still don't want to? If you still don't want to review, then I encourage you to write a story. Then you'll understand how much reviews mean to writers and maybe you'll start reviewing other people's stories. Review! 


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